


turn the page (maybe we'll find a brand new ending)

by inroryland



Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Pining, Red String of Fate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:08:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24748870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inroryland/pseuds/inroryland
Summary: Jess Mariano has always thought soulmates were bullshit. But then one day, he meets a girl with crystal blue eyes and a bright smile, and the world tilts on its axis.
Relationships: Rory Gilmore/Jess Mariano
Comments: 13
Kudos: 126





	turn the page (maybe we'll find a brand new ending)

**Author's Note:**

> **Relationships:** Rory/Jess, a little bit of Rory/Dean (im so sorry)  
>  **Characters:** Rory, Jess, Lorelai, Luke, Sookie, Jackson, Dean, Shane  
>  **Warnings/Disclaimers:** some swearing, dean being a controlling asshole (wbk)
> 
> the timeline may get a bit confusing - note that there is only ONE flashback, and the rest just kind of goes along, shane shows up earlier in the fic, there is NO kiss at sookies wedding, and lorelai is more aware of how horrible dean is!!  
> dialogue too - you may recognise bits and pieces from the show, tweaked slightly/with added stuff!
> 
> hi!!  
> as i said lmao! i would post a new fic, and here it is  
> ive already got another one that im working on whoohoo  
> the title is taken from lost stars by adam levine  
> some info that will help understand the fic:  
> the red string of fate will ONLY APPEAR when feelings are confessed - so, for example, if the person hasnt confessed yet, even if they feel the same way, the string will not appear (cough javajunkie cough)
> 
> i hope that clears things up!  
> now, on with the show!!

Rory Gilmore believes in soulmates.

Well, sort of - after all, she’s dating Dean Forester, but when she kissed him for the first time, nothing appeared. She was, admittedly, a little disappointed.

But she _loves_ him, so it’s okay, really. She doesn’t mind, especially since he kisses her _oh so gently_ and smiles at her in a way that makes her feel warm and safe.

She resigns herself to the fact that she’ll never meet her soulmate - but with Dean’s large hand holding hers, kissing her and making her feel pampered and treasured, she decides it’s not so bad.

Sometimes, though, mostly after she gets into a fight with Dean (she grimaces, thinking about the _Donna Reed Show_ ) , and she’ll look out of her room, staring at the stars in the night sky, and wonders what her soulmate is doing.

Then she opens up her book and forgets everything else.

♥

Jess Mariano, on the other hand, thinks soulmates are bullshit.

When he was 4, before his mom gave up on being a decent parental figure, she tried explaining it to him.

_“See, sweetheart, I haven’t met mine yet.” She said with a smile, putting up her pinky finger. “But one day, when you’re older, you’ll meet someone. Someone who… compliments you.”_

_Jess looked up in awe and grinned at her._

_He stopped believing anything she had to say after that, though._

  
  


He stands in front of a diner, with the sign _William’s Hardware_ (why the _fuck_ does a diner have the sign “William’s Hardware”? How does that make sense?), a duffle bag slung over his shoulder.

His uncle, Luke, is trying his best to make conversation with Jess, which he quickly ends with one word answers and uninterested nods.

“...And tonight, my, um, friend? Friend, I guess, my friend Lorelai invited us over for dinner.”

“Okay.” 

“She has a daughter, named Rory, around your age. Well, technically, named Lorelai, but, y’know, we call her Rory to prevent confusion. ‘Cause it’d be hard to call their names and they’d turn at the same time, and…” Luke trails off. “Go upstairs. I’ve set up a mattress for you.”

“Mhm.”

“Well. I need to tend to my diner.”

“Yep.”

Luke sighs and leaves Jess alone after that.

He trudges upstairs, dumping his duffle bag onto his “mattress” (is that a fucking air raft?) and pulling out his book.

Grabbing the nearest pen he can find, he opens up his book, scribbling down his notes, all while plotting his escape from this stupid town already.

♥

First things first - is that _Howl_?

“Well, aren’t we hooked on phonics?” Jess comments as he steps into Rory’s room.

“Oh, I read a lot. Do you read?” she replies excitedly, curious to see whether she found a new person to talk about books with.

“Not much.” he comments off handedly, flipping through her books. 

“I can loan you that if you want, it’s great.”

“Nah.” he’s about to put it down, but all of a sudden, he blurts out, “which one’s your favourite?”

At her frown, he lifts up _Howl_.

“Oh. _Sunflower Sutra_.”

Huh. Impressive.

“Not _Song_ ?” He challenges. “ _The weight of the world is love. Under the burden of solitude, under the burden of dissatisfaction - the weight, the weight we carry is love._ ”

“Nope. _A sweet natural eye to the new hip moon, woke up alive and excited grasping in the sunset shadow sunrise golden monthly breeze._ ”

He laughs despite himself. She’s cute, she reads a shit ton, and when she smiles at him, he feels like he would do anything for her. Anything.

“Thought you didn’t read much.” she says with a raised eyebrow, and he shrugs. “Well, what is much?”

“Guys, we’re moving to the living room!” Lorelai announces, walking past them with bowls of food. A shorter woman smiles and waves at him (he tries to recall her name. Susan? Sally?), gently leading a man in a grey sweater by the hand. He notices the red string on both their fingers, blinking in shock.

“Oh, that’s Sookie, and her boyfriend, Jackson.” Rory pipes up behind him. “They’ve been dating for a while - I’m just waiting for them to get married.”

“They’re, um. Soulmates.” Jess says dumbly, because he’s never- he’s never _seen_ it before, and he almost thought it was some stupid scam, but he glances at Sookie and Jackson, the way they exchange laughs and warm looks, and he feels- what does he feel? He doesn’t know, but he wants what they have.

“Yeah." she laughs. "Have you never seen it before? There's Sookie and Jackson, Babette and Morey, Taylor and his wife - although, I feel sorry for her, being Mrs Doose and all. Who would want that?" her joke falls on deaf ears as he stares after the couple walking to the living room.

"Jess?" Rory prompts, and he clears his throat and looks away, eager to leave.

Jess makes his way over to the windows, tilting his head at her. “Do these open?”

“Oh, yeah.” Rory informs him cheerfully. “You just unlatch and push.”

“Great. Shall we?” he unlatches the window, pushing it open until it’s big enough for him to squeeze through.

She frowns, confused. “Shall we what?”

“Bail.” He figures it would be obvious.

“No,” she says incredulously. 

“Why?”

“Because,” she says as if it’s obvious, “it’s Tuesday night in Stars Hollow. There’s nowhere to bail to. 24-hour mini mart closed twenty minutes ago.”

“So we’ll walk around, or sit on a bench and stare at our shoes.” Why is he being so persistent? Why does he want to spend time with her? There’s something about Rory that just draws him to her, and, inexplicably, makes him want to spend time with her.

“Look,” she says, looking up at him with her big sky-blue eyes, and it takes a lot of willpower to look away (it’s a bit embarrassing, really, how he’s reduced to stupid cliches he detests around a girl he just met, but it’s true), “Sookie just made a ton of great food, and I’m starving, and though it may not seem like it right at this moment, it’s gonna be fun. Trust me.”

“I don’t even know you.”

She blinks up at him. “Well, don’t I look trustworthy?”

_Oh, God._ “Maybe.”

“Okay, good, let’s eat!” she says cheerfully, practically skipping out of her room.

He slips her copy of _Howl_ into his back pocket, makes his way to the fridge, and grabs a beer bottle, eyeing the cans of cokes with disdain.

 _Well_ , he laughs to himself, _at least I have one thing to look forward to now in this stupid town._

♥

Rory’s mom _hates_ Jess Mariano. In fact, the whole town does.

  
  


Problem is, Rory doesn’t know _why_ \- for the past few months, she realises that Jess is so much more than the new “bad boy”.

For one, he’s insanely smart. Like, “writes notes in the margins of books and could pass essays with flying colours” smart. Once, Rory stayed late in the diner, pen tapping the table incessantly as she stared at her paper.

“Okay, I give up.” she announced to the diner (which consisted of Kirk, who was asleep, and Jess). “I hate this.”

Jess grinned, sliding into the seat opposite her. “What’s the problem?”

“The _problem_ , Jess,” she huffed, “is that this essay is due tomorrow and I have no idea what to write for it!”

“Woah, Rory, calm down.” he laughed. “Here, I’ll help.” he leaned over, glancing at the question. “Fahrenheit 451?”

“Ray Bradbury can kiss my ass.” she grumbled, and he bit back a laugh at the profanity as he read the question.

After a moment of silence, he sat back with a raised eyebrow. “Okay, so what do you need help with?”

“I have no idea how to describe the stupid relationship between Guy and Mildred.”

“Well, it was kind of stupid.”

“If you’re not gonna help, go away,” she sighed.

“I said I’ll help.” he said gently, softer than she had ever heard before. “C’mon. Give me your pen, and a notebook.”

She took out a notebook she hadn’t used yet from her school bag, handing it to him along with her pen.

He opened it to the first page and started writing.

(The next day, Mr Medina told her she got an A.)

♥

So Jess is smart. And, objectively, he’s good looking - Rory’s not _blind_ , sometimes finding herself glancing at his jaw and hands and lips and-

Well, that’s besides the point. Point is, Jess is popular. Something about his “dreamy eyes” and “brooding” look draws girls to him, and so Rory really, really shouldn’t be surprised that he goes out with a few.

It still annoys her, for some reason.

She’s sitting in the diner with her mother, bickering with her about eating her vegetables, when all of a sudden, a girl whose name Rory can’t remember walks into the diner, grabs Jess’ collar, and starts making out with him.

“Ladies and gentlemen, a conversation in ten words or less.” Lorelai comments sarcastically, taking another sip from her mug.

“True meaning of the mind.” Rory grumbles, picking at the remaining fries on her plate. 

She tries not to glance over, she really does, but she finds herself staring at the two of them, an unpleasant feeling settling in her stomach.

When they finally pull away for air, Jess glances at her, and her mouth dries.

She quickly turns away, face flushing red as she feels his gaze on her. The door opens, and Dean, her boyfriend, the guy that actually loves her, greets them and sits down.

She holds Dean’s hand and ignores Jess for the rest of the day.

  
  


♥

“So, why’d you do it?” Rory asks Jess once they sit down on the bridge. He raises an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Outbid Dean like that!” she scowls, and he bites back a laugh.

“I dunno. It started out as a joke just to bug him, but then he got so _mad_ , y’know? And he’s standing there all tall, and mad, and- I mean, it was really funny.”

“It wasn’t.” she crosses her arms, frowning at the wood. 

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I didn’t intend to do it.” At her silence, he tilts his head. “Does that make you feel better?”

Technically, it isn’t a _lie_. Sort of. It’s like a half-lie. Because he really, really didn’t intend to outbid Dean, but he definitely wasn’t focused on the hulking figure standing in front of him, eyes constantly going over to the girl who looked more and more distressed with the growing numbers.

The second Dean said, “ _five_ dollars,” smugly, Jess found himself opening his mouth and shouting, “ten dollars!”, and now here he is, with his pocket significantly lighter, a tiny basket in hand and an upset girl following him.

“Shall we eat this?” he asks, tapping the basket.

“Go ahead.” 

He flips off the lid, glancing inside. His nose wrinkles at the pungent smell when he opens a container, which holds some sort of… substance? It’s a mix of grey and yellow, which he does not find reassuring _at all_. “Yeah, I’ll pass,” he snorts, covering the tupperware once again, “I’d rather not die.”

“Good choice.” she laughs, reaching inside and pulling out two cans of soda. “Here.”

He accepts it, popping it open. “So, watcha reading?”

Rory brightens, turning to face him. “Ever read Kazuo Ishiguro?”

“The Japanese guy who lives in England? Pass.”

She frowns. “Why?”

“I read _one_. Didn’t even get halfway through before I fell asleep. I’m pretty sure the only notes I wrote in it were, ‘this guy can’t stop using commas’.”

Rory laughs, and he stares like an idiot. “Well, it’s the English way of writing.”

“Please. Has he ever heard of a full stop?”

“ _The Remains of the Day_ is amazing!”

“Nope.”

“Please, give it one more try.”

“Nope! Next?”

She sighs, sitting back and crossing her legs. “Ayn Rand.”

“Oh, come on.”

“What? _The Fountainhead_ is a classic! I read it when I was ten.”

That gets a surprised look from him. “ _Ten_?” he repeats.

“Yeah, but I didn’t understand a word of it, so I re-read it when I was 15.”

“Nope. Give me Hemingway any day.”

“God, you’re a Hemingway fan. I may push you in the lake now.”

“Sure. Let me just take my book out first.” He jokes, pulling out _To Have and Have Not_.

“I’ll push it in with you,” she sticks her tongue out at him.

“You know, Ernest only has lovely things to say about you.”

Rory looks at him - and for a moment, he hopes. He doesn’t know what he’s hoping for, but it’s there, when she tilts her head at him and asks, “Why are you only nice to me?”

_Oh, fuck._ “What?”

“Just now, you were totally screwing with Dean. But now you’re nice to me. Why?” 

He tries to scramble for an excuse. “See, it’s the screwing with Dean so I can come here and be nice to _you_.”

The words he just said don't really register until she says, “So, it was a plan.”

God, this girl really makes him feel like an idiot sometimes. “Excuse me?”

“The whole… outbidding Dean thing. It was a plan.”

_Welp, time to go._ “I’m officially starving.” he announces, dusting his jeans off.

“And officially evasive,” Jess hears her mutter.

“C’mon, let’s go get pizza, maybe the bookstore? I’ll try and get you to read Ernest.”

She rolls her eyes, standing. “Fine, I give. Let’s go!”

He grins at her retreating figure. As he stands, he squints, noticing a bracelet lying on the floor. It’s weird looking, leather with some sort of silver charm hanging from it. He glances at Rory - on one hand, he wants to keep it, but on the other, it might be from Dean, and knowing Dean, he’d yell at Rory the second he notices it’s gone, and Jess doesn’t want to see Rory upset.

“Here.” he picks up the bracelet, jogging after her. “You dropped this.”

“Oh.” she says simply, taking it from him. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” he shrugs, noticing that she doesn’t put it back on, and instead pockets it. “Shall we?”

“Pepperoni?” she suggests.

“Ew, no.”

“Wha- who doesn’t like pepperoni?” she demands, elbowing him as they walk to the pizzeria. 

They laugh and bicker for the rest of the way. Jess tries not to jump every time their arms brush or their knees knock into each other as they lean over the small table and argue over books. He tries to ignore the electric shock he feels every time their fingers brush, every time she looks up at him with a smile.

They make their way to the bookstore, where Andrew greets them with a smile. “My two best customers!” Andrew grins. “We recently got a whole stack of books from the shipment - Rory, you wanna read any murder mysteries?”

She raises her eyebrows curiously. “I’m not much of a murder mystery fan - who’s the author?”

“Agatha Christie.” Jess calls from the shelves. He picks up _The ABC Murders_. “This one’s great. Buy it.”

“As long as you pick up Ayn Rand.”

“Political nut,” he grumbles under his breath, moving to find _The Fountainhead_.

“Forty page monologue!” Rory says cheerfully, as if that’d make him like it more.

They walk out of the bookstore with paper bags in their arms, grinning at each other.

  
  


He thinks he sees a flash of red for a second, but ignores it. It’s not possible. It’s not.

  
  


♥

  
  


“Mom, I’m home!” Rory calls, pushing open the front door with her foot as she juggles the paper bags in her arms.

“In here,” Lorelai yells, sticking a foot up from her horizontal position on the couch.

“I see you,” she chuckles, walking over. 

“Hey, sweets.” Lorelai lifts her head up to face her. 

“I got a book for you. Here.”

“What is it?” Her mother reaches a hand up to take it from Rory, scrutinising it. 

“You said you wanted to read _The Children’s Hour_ , remember?”

“I did? Huh.” Lorelai puts the book down on the coffee table, smiling at her daughter. “So, what happened?”

“Oh, well-” Rory pulls off her coat, putting down the bags in her arms. “I went to get pizza, then wandered around the bookstore for a while. That’s about it.”

Lorelai nods, the small smile gracing her lips disappearing suddenly. “Look, honey, we need to talk.”

“About what?”

“About Dean.” 

Rory frowns. “What about Dean?”

“It’s just… his reaction to you getting lunch with Jess was kind of overkill.”

“Well, can you blame him? It was kind of unexpected.” she says defensively.

“Yeah, but no one should react that way to their girlfriend eating with another guy.”

“But-” Rory finds a spot on the floor to focus her eyes on. She can’t argue against that.

“Look, babe, Dean is _great_ , but… doesn’t he seem to be a bit possessive?”

Rory crosses her arms. “I thought you liked Dean!” she accuses.

“I do, but, honey, it’s kind of worrying if he’s reacting like that!”

“Like _what_?” Rory snaps.

“Like…” _Like you’re an object that he gets to control_ , Lorelai doesn’t say. “Look, just- if Dean… if he’s making you feel unsafe, you’d tell me, right?”

“God, I can’t believe you! You used to _love_ Dean! What happened?” Rory yells, scowling.

“Rory, the fact that he reacts that badly about you hanging out with a friend, the fact that you’ve cancelled movie nights with us to go out with him because he guilted you into it- it’s worrying, okay?”

“I’m going out for a walk.” Rory snaps, grabbing her coat. 

“Rory…”

“I’ll be home soon.” 

With that, she walks out the back door and slams it shut.

  
  


♥

Rory finds herself at the bridge she was at a few hours ago, biting her bottom lip to prevent herself from grinning like an idiot when she sees someone sitting there, legs dangling over the water as he flips through a book.

“What are you reading?” she asks without any greeting, sitting down next to him.

Jess doesn’t seem shocked - if he’s surprised to see her, he doesn’t show it. He just wordlessly lifts up the book in his hands with a smirk. _The Fountainhead_.

“Ah, Ayn Rand. How’s she treating you?”

“Horribly,” he replies, dog-earing a page. “So, what brings you out here this late at night?”

“It’s not that late.”

He shrugs. “Tuesday night in Stars Hollow.”

Rory laughs at that, swinging her legs. “Fair.” The smile drops off her face as she says slowly, “I got into a fight with my mom.”

“Oh.”

“It was about Dean.”

He doesn’t say anything, staring out at the lake in front of them.

“Mom said… that I should tell her if I’m feeling unsafe with him, which is crazy, right?”

“Sure.” Jess turns to face her, tilting his head. “But do you?”

“Do I what?”

“Feel unsafe with Dean.”

“I…” She should shake her head. Tell him he’s crazy, protest, argue because Dean is amazing and sweet and-

“I don’t know.” Rory admits. “I’ve got it in my head that Dean is perfect, but…”

She thinks of the first time they broke up because she couldn’t say “I love you” back to him - how he freaked out and yelled at her for the smallest things, for fighting with her when Jess and Paris showed up at her house one night, shouting at her for something that wasn’t her fault.

Suddenly, Dean doesn’t seem so perfect after all.

“Then there’s your answer,” Jess says with a shrug.

She nods. “Jess?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you… believe in soulmates?”

He snorts. “Please.”

“What?” she frowns.

“Why should the universe, or God, or whoever’s up there, decide who’s perfect for me? I mean, sure, it’s obviously real, but it’s so… weird. I want to be able to decide who I like, y’know?” He looks at her with a raised eyebrow. “Why?”

“Dunno.” Rory stares at her hands, folded in her lap. “But what will you do when you meet your soulmate?”

He shrugs. “I’ll see if that ever happens.”

They sit in silence for a bit.

“Read _The Fountainhead_ to me?” Rory offers.

A small smile - a real, genuine smile, not a smirk - crosses his lips as he opens the book. “As you wish.”

He clears his throat, and starts off from the chapter he stopped at. “ _‘...Architecture, my friends, is a great art based on two cosmic principles…’_ ”

  
  


♥

  
  


They break up about a week later.

It feels rushed and awkward - Rory trying to explain to Dean, telling him that she loves him, she does, but at some point she’s stopped being excited about phone calls from him, stopped loving the way her name sounds on his lips, and Dean- he’s angry, and it’s scary. He yells and shakes his head and says, “God, Rory, I can’t believe you-” and “I don’t know why I even bothered with you-” and a million other things that’s making her cry because it’s so _terrifying_ , and she wants her mother and her best friend and-

“Is this about Jess?”

Rory blinks at her (ex) boyfriend. “What? No! Dean, it’s not about _Jess_ , what are you talking about-”

“Yeah, right.” Dean snaps. “That’s bullshit! You look at him like you love him _so_ much- you know, Rory, for the two years we were together, you’ve never looked at me that way!”

She’s shaking at this point. “No, no, it’s _not_ about Jess, Dean, it’s just that we aren’t working out, and-”

“Shut the fuck up, Rory!” He growls, and she flinches backwards, trembling. “I’m sorry, Dean, I really am, I’m just- I-”

“What, you _what_ , Rory?!”

“I don’t know!” she sobs, and he shakes his head. “I’ll drop your stuff off tomorrow,” he snaps, and the front door of the Forester’s house slams shut, leaving her standing on the porch in tears.

  
  


♥

  
  


Jess is halfway through a book on Pablo Neruda poems, scribbling down thoughts and notes in the corners of the pages, grinning at one particular line. _Rory is gonna_ love _this_ , he thinks to himself, then frowns, because what’s he doing, thinking about _Rory_? God.

Someone knocks on the door, timidly, and he checks the clock. Who would visit at 10pm? Luke is out on a fishing trip, or something, so he sighs, putting down his book and making his way over to the door.

“Welcome to Jess and Luke’s bachelor pad,” he says with as much fake cheer as he can muster, because it pisses off Luke when he greets people that way.

Speak of the fucking devil.

“Rory?” Jess says, stunned.

She sniffs, and- oh, oh, she’s _crying_ , and what the fuck, why is she crying? What do you do when a girl cries? Fuck.

“Um. Do you wanna come in?” he says awkwardly.

She nods, shuffling past him as he steps aside.

He quickly shuts the door, then turns to see Rory standing next to the dining table, looking lost.

“Hey, what’s wrong-”

“Dean and I broke up.” It comes out in a broken whisper, and he blinks. He wasn’t expecting that.

“...Okay.” he says slowly, walking over to her. “And you came here because-?”

She lets out a loud sob, and before he knows what he’s doing, he wraps his arms around her instinctively - feels her melt against his chest, shoulders shaking with every gasp of breath. 

“I don’t know - he scares me, and he yelled at me, and- and mom was _right_ , he makes me so scared, is that meant to be normal? I don’t know, he was my first boyfriend, and now he’s gone, and I-”

He strokes her hair as she sobs, grimacing at the uncomfortable wet patch blooming on his shirt. But when she begins to pull away, hiccupping about ruining his clothes, he cups the back of her head and pulls her in again, murmuring a quick, “‘Sokay, I didn’t like this shirt very much anyway,” as she trembles.

When she calms down after a while, loud, shaky gasps turning into smaller, staccato bursts of hiccups, he reluctantly pulls away. “Should we sit down?” he recommends, and Rory lets out a shaky laugh and nods.

She sits down on one end of the couch, him on the other.

“So.” He offers her a lopsided grin. “Are you feeling better now?”

Rory laughs. “I suppose so.”

“Any reason why you came here instead of going to your mom, or Lane, or something?”

She fixated on her hands in her lap. “I just… wanted to see you, I guess.”

Christ. He should not be feeling _that_ happy. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

What’s he supposed to do with that information? 

It doesn’t help that with Rory, it feels _right_. That he has stupid dreams of her being his soulmate. Because, once again, the concept of soulmates is crap.

(He’s starting to doubt himself.)

“Jess?”

“Yeah?”

Rory takes a deep breath, cups his face, and kisses him.

♥

  
  


Kissing Rory, as he suspected, is awesome.

Jess lets out a surprised noise at the back of his throat - Rory pushes against him, and he groans, cupping her face to kiss her back.

One hand slides down to grip her waist, slowly moving to press her onto the couch cushions as she lets out a sigh against his lips.

  
  


Hands thread through his (for once) unstyled hair, and he can’t help laughing against her mouth, their teeth clashing together momentarily. 

They finally pull away to breathe, smiling at each other like idiots.

“Hi.” Jess breathes, resting their foreheads against each other.”

“Hey.” Rory reaches down to intertwine their fingers together.

“It’s stupid.” he laughs.

“What is?”

“That I hadn’t told you I like you earlier. That I have, for a while now.”

Jess hates opening up to people, but the smile that appears on Rory’s face is completely worth it, when she says, “Me too. I like you, too.”

And, God, it felt so right. An inexpiable warmth fills him, and he feels lighter than air, looking down at their hands and letting out an incredulous laugh, because there- there’s-

A red string, tied on each of their pinkies, connected together.

“Holy shit.” Jess says, not quite believing his eyes.

“Yeah.” Rory says, eyes flitting from the red thread to his face.

“So- this means-”

Her free hand presses against the nape of his neck - brings him closer to kiss him once more.

“Hi, soulmate.”

  
  


They know there’s going to be a lot to deal with - Lorelai’s disapproval, the town’s watchful eye, school, but they’ll figure it out tomorrow.

For now, they stay in their tiny bubble of warmth and laughter and happiness.

Jess can’t quite wipe the idiotic grin off his face for the rest of the night.

**Author's Note:**

> well  
> if you survived that shitshow, thank you!  
> if you didnt, thank you anyway!  
> you can follow my tumblr [here](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/in-rory-land)  
> you can follow my twt [here](https://twitter.com/rorynotfound)  
> see you next time :D


End file.
